eye_of_a_cat (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
eye_of_a_cat) wrote2005-03-16 02:45 pm
eye_of_a_cat) wrote2005-03-16 02:45 pm
Entry tags:
BSG stuff, up to episode 4
There's something nice about watching a series that lots of other people are watching at the same time (even if most people are a few episodes ahead of me), but there's also something weirdly intimidating about BSG getting such a big and enthusiastic fandom so soon. From what I've seen - I've been avoiding most meta so far to stay unspoilered - it all seems friendly and interesting, and I'm not worried about disagreeing with consensus opinion on anything. It's just, well... I think I might end up staying quietly in the corner on this one for a while.
(Although, one of the things I've noticed in the non-LJ stuff I've read about BSG is that everyone seems convinced it doesn't really count as sci-fi, because a) it's dealing with characters/dark stuff/real issues and b) lots of non sci-fi fans are watching it, which is either funny or baffling and I can't decide which. Are these the same 'non sci-fi fans' who all watch Stargate? What do they think sci-fi is? And are there a bunch of fans somewhere else saying 'I love The Shield, but it isn't really a detective show, see, because it's dealing with all these issues that Miss Marple never touched on! Oh, and I like CSI and Law & Order and NYPD Blue, too. But I'm not a fan of detective shows'?)
(Also, this has the prettiest theme tune I've ever heard.)
33 surprised me by bringing Helo back from the void of lost and forgotten characters. I don't see how this storyline is ever going to tie back into the Galactica one, since presumably he's got very little chance of finding the fleet again, so I'm curious about what the Cylons are doing. (Also, about why they didn't just blow everything up and leave.) They want him alive, for... something? Is he supposed to lead them back to the fleet? If so, does Caprica!Boomer know she's a Cylon?
It also made me not hate Six, who I really didn't like much to start with. She became a lot less boring in the pilot than I thought she was going to be, and after she told Baltar in this episode that God would save him if he repented, I'm kind of liking her. I'm wondering what sins she thinks Baltar needs to repent - humanity's treatment of the Cylons, or his own role in getting humanity almost wiped out, or doubting that God had a plan for him in the first place?
Water confirmed that Boomer is my favourite character so far, Cylon or otherwise. (Although in her case, pretty definitely Cylon. Ah, well.) What a horrible thing, to suspect that you're actually one of the Cylons you're fighting against, and to be completely unable to do anything about it even when you're most likely sabotaging the ship. Or to see water when people were about to die of thirst, and have something inside your mind stopping you from saying the words. And yeah, she probably shouldn't be covering up for herself, but I can't completely blame her.
But presumably, since the Cylons have so many sleeper agents around the fleet (including Baltar, unless I am very much mistaken and that explosion looked a lot worse than it was) they could do a lot more to sabotage it than everything they've done already. Why mess with the water supply when there are nuclear bombs on board? Either they're incompetent, or they really do have a plan that goes beyond 'wipe out humanity'. I'm guessing the second, but then, I guessed that Chris Carter knew where he was going with The X-Files, too. We live in hope that this won't be the Neverending And Contradictory Tale Of Samantha Mulder all over again.
The prison story in Bastille Day was okay, but I don't think it was really raising and dealing with all the issues it thought it was. Which doesn't mean it was bad - not every single subplot has to be about huge issues that question society and people and everything about them - just that I got the impression I was supposed to be seeing challenging and controversial material with Tom Zarek and whether he should really be classed as a terrorist if he was charismatic/wrote a book/was fighting for oppressed people/was a person rather than a person-shaped void of unreedemable evil, as if these things would shake up solid ideas about what terrorists were and how we defined them. And I could see how the idea of a terrorist who wanted free elections would be a particularly interesting and complicated thing to have in a self-consciously post-September-11th show, as Ron Moore's said this is - but that assumes a very specific view (whether right or wrong) of terrorists being opposed to democracy in the first place, and not of terrorist groups that have political wings. It's not that it didn't make sense for Zarek to act the way he did, or that it wasn't well-handled, just that it wasn't quite handling all the things it would have liked to.
And Act of Contrition was touching and sad and powerful, and that's about all it feels necessary to say about it.
(Although, one of the things I've noticed in the non-LJ stuff I've read about BSG is that everyone seems convinced it doesn't really count as sci-fi, because a) it's dealing with characters/dark stuff/real issues and b) lots of non sci-fi fans are watching it, which is either funny or baffling and I can't decide which. Are these the same 'non sci-fi fans' who all watch Stargate? What do they think sci-fi is? And are there a bunch of fans somewhere else saying 'I love The Shield, but it isn't really a detective show, see, because it's dealing with all these issues that Miss Marple never touched on! Oh, and I like CSI and Law & Order and NYPD Blue, too. But I'm not a fan of detective shows'?)
(Also, this has the prettiest theme tune I've ever heard.)
33 surprised me by bringing Helo back from the void of lost and forgotten characters. I don't see how this storyline is ever going to tie back into the Galactica one, since presumably he's got very little chance of finding the fleet again, so I'm curious about what the Cylons are doing. (Also, about why they didn't just blow everything up and leave.) They want him alive, for... something? Is he supposed to lead them back to the fleet? If so, does Caprica!Boomer know she's a Cylon?
It also made me not hate Six, who I really didn't like much to start with. She became a lot less boring in the pilot than I thought she was going to be, and after she told Baltar in this episode that God would save him if he repented, I'm kind of liking her. I'm wondering what sins she thinks Baltar needs to repent - humanity's treatment of the Cylons, or his own role in getting humanity almost wiped out, or doubting that God had a plan for him in the first place?
Water confirmed that Boomer is my favourite character so far, Cylon or otherwise. (Although in her case, pretty definitely Cylon. Ah, well.) What a horrible thing, to suspect that you're actually one of the Cylons you're fighting against, and to be completely unable to do anything about it even when you're most likely sabotaging the ship. Or to see water when people were about to die of thirst, and have something inside your mind stopping you from saying the words. And yeah, she probably shouldn't be covering up for herself, but I can't completely blame her.
But presumably, since the Cylons have so many sleeper agents around the fleet (including Baltar, unless I am very much mistaken and that explosion looked a lot worse than it was) they could do a lot more to sabotage it than everything they've done already. Why mess with the water supply when there are nuclear bombs on board? Either they're incompetent, or they really do have a plan that goes beyond 'wipe out humanity'. I'm guessing the second, but then, I guessed that Chris Carter knew where he was going with The X-Files, too. We live in hope that this won't be the Neverending And Contradictory Tale Of Samantha Mulder all over again.
The prison story in Bastille Day was okay, but I don't think it was really raising and dealing with all the issues it thought it was. Which doesn't mean it was bad - not every single subplot has to be about huge issues that question society and people and everything about them - just that I got the impression I was supposed to be seeing challenging and controversial material with Tom Zarek and whether he should really be classed as a terrorist if he was charismatic/wrote a book/was fighting for oppressed people/was a person rather than a person-shaped void of unreedemable evil, as if these things would shake up solid ideas about what terrorists were and how we defined them. And I could see how the idea of a terrorist who wanted free elections would be a particularly interesting and complicated thing to have in a self-consciously post-September-11th show, as Ron Moore's said this is - but that assumes a very specific view (whether right or wrong) of terrorists being opposed to democracy in the first place, and not of terrorist groups that have political wings. It's not that it didn't make sense for Zarek to act the way he did, or that it wasn't well-handled, just that it wasn't quite handling all the things it would have liked to.
And Act of Contrition was touching and sad and powerful, and that's about all it feels necessary to say about it.
no subject
! I knew you'd have brilliant insights as soon as you started watching. Of course as a scientist Baltar would have been personally involved in the de"human"ization of Cylons. It makes sense that from Six's POV he'd have that guilt. Her loving him would be an act of generosity and forgiveness.
Watch my mind twist thinking about this.
no subject
It's a weird sort of forgiveness, though, isn't it? She's not forgiving him in the sense of suspending whatever plan she's working to that she needs him for (assuming that whatever she's doing on the Galactica/in his mind relates to the Cylon Plan, and isn't just one Cylon doing something independently). It's the same kind of forgiveness and love she talks about God doing, though - God loves humans, God has a plan for humans, God will forgive humans, but God's still going to send people to kill all available humans and this is perfectly fair. Not irrational, but... weird.
no subject
no subject
Guess what - apparently the American version is different. The network insisted that this was too depressing for American watchers and said it should be more uplifting. So the vocals were removed.
They want him alive, for... something? Is he supposed to lead them back to the fleet? If so, does Caprica!Boomer know she's a Cylon?
Both questions are answered within the season, though the first later rather than sooner. But you'll know by the time you finish the CDs.*g*
And yeah, she probably shouldn't be covering up for herself, but I can't completely blame her.
Same here. Volunteering to say "I think I could be a Cylon, please arrest me" would truly be superhuman. Especially given that Boomer must know how the last Cylon suspect ended up. The fate of the next Cylon to be found out isn't very encouraging to accuse herself, either.
Yes, the Cylon plan goes beyond "wipe out humanity" now. Again, season finale. At least for one major part of the plan. Though there was one clever clue in a Balter/Six conversation in an episode you already saw.
Speaking of Baltar, imo he's the one character we can be 100% sure of is NOT a Cylon. Firstly, that would have made Six' original mission superfluous. Secondly, I take it you assume he (the original Baltar) died in the blast and the one currently running around is a copy who doesn't know he's a Cylon. Again, I don't think so, both for internal and meta reasons. Internal reasons are that as of now we have no reason to assume the Cylons can actually copy existing human beings. If they could, there would presumably not be only twelve human-looking models. The big meta reason is that Baltar, in the original BSG, was the human who sold out the human race. (He also was a dull evil overlord, but anyway.) New BSG Baltar is someone more complex, and he had not intended the original sell-out, but he's still fulfilling the Judas/Ephialtes/Skylla role in the mythic narrative. This would not work were he a Cylon himself.
Moreover, what would be the emotional impact of "oh, Baltar is a sleeper agent"? Zilch. Mind you, I think (that's not a spoiler, just speculation) that we're going to find out someone other than Boomer on the Galactica is a Cylon sleeper agent as well, but as with Boomer, it's going to be a "nice" character. Billy perhaps, or Gaeta (he plots the jumps, and that would explain a lot), or Cally, though I think it's going to be a male.
no subject
Apart from an expression of stunned disbelief and a weakening of my American-TV-related vow not to bitch about Baltar's accent, there's really no way to respond to that.
Volunteering to say "I think I could be a Cylon, please arrest me" would truly be superhuman.
Yep, although it does make the Cylon-sleeper-agents idea a little puzzling in terms of efficiency - wouldn't a Boomer who knew she was a Cylon be able to cause a lot more damage without any risk of turning herself over to the authorities (or telling Tyrol about what's happening)? It seems odd. On the other hand, a lot of the stuff the Cylons are doing seems odd right now.
Secondly, I take it you assume he (the original Baltar) died in the blast and the one currently running around is a copy who doesn't know he's a Cylon.
At the very least, he would have needed some serious patching up after the explosion if it was as serious as it looked - and presumably if Six is telling the truth about planting some kind of chip in his head so he could see her, this is when it would have been done. Which means they wouldn't necessarily need to make a Cylon copy from scratch, but... if human-looking Cylons are physically (almost) identical to humans anyway, and can also believe that they are humans, and the only thing which defines them as Cylons is that Cylons created them and Cylons can control them, then even an almost-dead-but-patched-up-by-Cylons Baltar wouldn't be much less of a Cylon than the Boomer on Galactica, would he? (Except, of course, that the Cylons aren't actually controlling him in a physical sense, but that's some pretty strong influence.)
True about the original Baltar's role, though. I remember him vaguely (although I think his swivelling chair was about as interesting as he was), but not why/how he sold out humanity. The Cylons needed him to think like a human because they could only think like robots, or something, right? If I'm remembering that correctly - I get the impression that trying to predict the storylines in this version by looking back at the original is not generally going to be a good plan, but anyway - then the reason the Cylons need Baltar is the interesting point here, because if that's got anything to do with the difference between thinking like a Cylon and thinking like a human, then having that difference already confused by Cylons who believe they're human means that the Cylons wouldn't need Baltar to be entirely human in order to have him think like one (or act like one, or betray humanity as one, or whatever they're after here). Er, if that makes any sense.
Moreover, what would be the emotional impact of "oh, Baltar is a sleeper agent"? Zilch.
Fair point. I'd agree that there has to be at least one other sleeper agent on the Galactica among the people we've seen already, although since they completely surprised me with Boomer I'll probably guess wrong on who it might be. Tyrol, maybe? He's definitely helping Boomer by covering her tracks, whether he's a Cylon or not...